Chapter 13 & 14: Into The Wild Part (I & Ii) (1/2)

Sorry for any typo errors, in a rush.

Chapter 13 & 14 -

Sol still stood at the balcony looking off into the distance, Mitra was already long asleep. He sent mana into the runic ring and found it could hold quite a large s.p.a.ce inside and was curious as to how it worked. He saw everything the Former King described and nodded gratefully, he took the satchel around his shoulder and tossed it in.

Sol wondered if he should go talk to the rest of the royal family but decided against it. He and the Former King already had their words as men and that old man would surely honor it. Sol quickly departed the mansion and headed towards the Palace Medical Ward.

He quickly entered after sending a slight nod to that guards and found no one was present yet and the girls were probably still sleeping.

[Well he looks rather cold today...and he's got a new ring too..maybe he's expecting rain?] -Guard 1

[Bahahaha, I know right I've never seen that symbol before. Think it might be fake?] -Guard 2

[There's no way it's fake! Didn't you see the Royal Seal? But wait...it's a new seal] -Guard 1

[Fool that's why I said it might be fake! New n.o.bles with new seals always get an introduction to the entire of Eathernvale!] -Guard 2

[Well maybe he just didn't get his yet? Bah! I'm not thinking about this anymore!] -Guard 1

[Me neither let's just ignore this guy like we always do! First he has the Duke's seal and he's happy! Now he has a new seal and he looks mean!] -Guard 2

And so the two quietly became guardians once more.

**

As Sol entered the ward, he realized the girls weren't here yet and were probably doing something else. He sort of missed seeing Maria and quickly regained his focus and made his way to Renissa's personal room. He entered and realized Renissa was sleeping quietly on her bed, he quickly moved to her desk, opened it and picked up the potion and the note. He made sure it was the correct thing and then placed it in his runic ring.

He then turned to leave, he gave Renissa a meaningful glance walked over to her and pulled the blanket over her. Sol then quietly left.

(So you came back for it huh...I take it you plan on staying?..That's good I'd hate to see you leave...you called me Grandmother after all) -Renissa

It seemed the cold-faced granny let out a warm smile and could truly fall asleep in peace now.

Sol hurriedly went back to the mansion but this time he followed the directions he was told by Nightmaster Duke and went to the stables. There he met the large, robust gray-haired old man who was all ready to ride out.

[I take it you're ready?...Have you told the King?] -Nightmaster Duke

[No, there's no need for that] -Sol

[Understood] -Nightmaster Duke

The old man didn't ask any questions and directly showed Sol to a horse. The horse was black in color and incredibly huge, compared to the horse in Sol's memories that was uploaded a horse shouldn't be this big. It had thick black fur and rippled muscles, it did not look like a horse at all. Compared to even Nightmaster Duke's horse it was much larger and had powerful demeanor

The horse calmly glanced at Sol with pride in it's eyes, Sol stared back and the beast s.h.i.+vered a bit. It could sense the animalistic nature in Sol's blood and it subconsciously lowered it's head for Sol to reach. The Nightmaster upon seeing this was shocked.

(What would he say if he knew no one in Earthernvale could make this arrogant horse, lower it's head)

Nightmaster Duke shook his head as he thought of this and quickly dispelled his thoughts.

[Can you ride?] -Nightmaster Duke

[I'll manage somehow] -Sol

Sol climbed onto the black-furred horse and it gave a low snort that was akin to happiness. It nocked one of it's hooves and showed it was ready to go.

Sol instantly had memories flush into his mind, he saw himself as a young man with a bow on his back riding on a horse. He had complete control over the horse as if it were his own limb and he could sense and see the surroundings clearly. In a quick moment Sol had already fixed his posture as if he had ridden a horse his entire life.

The horse became even more elated seeing as it's new rider had learned how to control it properly and had felt a sense of superiority over other horses. Nightmaster Duke stared at him astonished for a moment before quickly s.h.i.+fting his gaze as to not be rude.

(He can already master riding? What a complete monster) -Nightmaster Duke

[Alright! Let's go!] -Nightmaster Duke

Sol with a simple wish of his will turned his long golden-magma like hair to a dark black and he pulled his cloak over his head.

[Mitra, hide your presence] -Sol

The Boned Blade Golden Bow with it's golden l.u.s.ter and powerful aura immediately retracted it's blades from it's limbs. The aura of the bow completely vanished and the bowstring became a grey dull color and looked just like an ordinary bow.

The Nightmaster then clicked his horse and galloped forward, Sol leaned down to the horse's head and whispered a few words in it's ear; with a quick stomp of it's hooves it had already caught up to the Nightmaster. The two followed the path straight to the gates, the guards open seeing the Nightmaster approaching yelled out to the gate-keeper.

[THE NIGHTMASTER IS COMING! OPEN THE GATES!] -Guard 1

*Clink Clink*

The huge gate immediately lifted and all guards on sight dressed in their Royal armor sent a salute towards the Nightmaster. They glanced at the golden-eyed youth who rode side by side with him and noticed his n.o.bility ring and understood clearly that the golden-eyed youth wasn't ordinary so they took no chances and saluted him as well.

Sol gave them a fleeting glance as he rode by and the guards felt themselves s.h.i.+ver.

(What beast-like eyes!) -Guards

These guards had never seen Sol before and only those who saw him before was already accustomed to seeing his eyes. To these people who had never seen him before it felt like a predator had took a slight glance at them, those were calm eyes but they carried a innate ferocity that would shock others.

Only the 3rd Queen had felt the full burst of that ferocity and she knew all too well that Sol didn't feel 100% human. She felt like he was an upgraded species of human and after all to her it would make sense if humans from another world differed from them so she didn't think too much about it. How could she know it's true origins?

Sol following the Nightmaster sped down the hilly road of the mountain, people who noticed this old man's s.h.i.+ning silver-like armor made way and Sol noticed all the different mansions along the way.

[Those are other n.o.bles houses, you haven't met them yet because truth be told since you arrived the King refused all visitors. We must carefully pick and choose who knows about your existence, the last thing we want is some jealous n.o.ble running off to another city spreading knowledge about you] -Nightmaster Duke

[Mm] -Sol

Sol was more focused on the people of the city and looked at them curiously, they seemed happy.

[Why are they so happy?] -Sol

[Well.....because you didn't land on our great city] -Nightmaster Duke

Sol couldn't help but smile awkwardly and one could have even sworn they heard a snicker from Sol's bow.

The guards opened several more gates and eventually they entered a town district, Sol and the Nightmaster had to slow down considerably here as the traffic was quite huge. Sol looked at the different kinds of people and showed curiosity dampening his face. He looked at the various foods and all of the different wares on sale and before he knew it they were already at the main gate. Sol reluctantly continued riding and ignored everything.

[When you come back you can enjoy all that the main city has to offer at no rus.h.!.+ We need to reach there before dark! I would have been happy if you had went to the Bloodmana Wasp nest later down instead of so soon....but alas..] -Nightmaster Duke

The Duke's words trailed off and he didn't bother finis.h.i.+ng. The guards at the main front gate saw the approaching imposing figure and immediately ordered -

[Nightmaster Duke is here! Open the gates! Open the gates!] -Gatekeeper

Sol and the Nightmaster quickly rode out of Earthernvale City.

**

Nightmaster Duke and Sol were currently speeding through the vast fields that separated the mountain from the rest of the forest. From the mountain one could clearly see for miles around it's surface and was relatively save as it had huge trees strategically placed around the mountain itself totally concealing it and it's walls.

There was even shrubbery entwined and covering the walls and if one saw it they would think it was a forested mountain. Earthernvale was placed with a good strategic set up in mind and Sol could see it the further he got away from the city. Not a single unnatural thing was seen from afar.

Nightmaster Duke saw Sol looking back and chuckled, he guessed what Sol was thinking about.

[It's a type of defense, the entire area here was carefully developed to make this place a suitable stronghold. Earth and Water mages worked hard to produce the desired effect and it's always worked well for us] -Nightmaster Duke

[It was masterfully done...] -Sol

Sol gazed at the mountain in awe and could tell that it was truly the work of countless sacrifices.

**

After riding for quite some time they finally reached the border of the forest, Nightmaster Duke's face became grim and Sol picked up on the changes and instinctively quieted down his horse. Mitra said he would only speak when need be and would otherwise reserve his energy to be able to warn Sol about incoming beasts.

Nightmaster Duke followed by Sol quickly and quietly entered the forest following a detailed route. Sol noticed on this route he saw a lot of a particular tree and couldn't help but ask about it in a quiet tone, the Nightmaster had been riding by his side and could hear it easily.

[What are so special about these trees?] -Sol

[Oh so you've noticed huh? These are called Fishtail trees, you see that fruit like thing that they bear that looks like a fish tail? It's obvious where it got it's name from right? What you didn't know was that these trees are special, they give off a disgusting smell that only beasts can smell and they absolutely hate it.

These trees not only smell but they absorb a lot of mana from the area making it even more undesirable. When beasts see these they instinctively move away, it's like a ward of sorts. These trees are carefully and specifically placed at specific points around Earthernvale and it's another way to make the city even safer, it's the one good thing mother nature has gifted us humans.

However, these fruits that they bear do not have seeds and it makes these trees hard to find and incredibly valuable. One of these trees are worth a lot and we can only afford to place them nearer to our city and keep watch on them. If we could have as much of them as we wanted, the entire city would be surrounded with it] -Nightmaster Duke

[You mean they can only be implanted from somewhere else?] -Sol

Sol was shocked and wondered just how much time, energy and lives it must have took to complete the entire process.

[Well yes, only under one other circ.u.mstance can we find seeds to make new trees and that means you'd have to find a Mother Fishtail tree, however you might as well give up on that. One of those hasn't been seen in thousands of years] -Nightmaster Duke

Sol said nothing more and they followed the Fishtail tree path in the forest, they only came across a few minor animals who couldn't pose a threat mainly because Nightmaster Duke's aura scared all low level beasts away. Every now and then Sol would see one peeping at them but it wouldn't attack, it would just stare as if waiting for the right opportunity.

Sol had an idea stopped and picked a few of the Fishtail tree fruits and placed them in his runic ring. Nightmaster Duke nodded in satisfaction, even something like that could save your life out here in the wild.

After they penetrated the forest border, things took a drastic turn. It was no longer sunny and filled with tiny animals but quiet and eerie. The Nightmaster and Sol sped through following the Fishtail trees and then stopped at a hideout like man-made structure, similar to the wall it was barely noticeable and because of the Earth and vine mixture wrapped around it's apartment sized walls one wouldn't be able to tell it was a dwelling place.

[From here on out, there are no more Fishtail trees. This tiny little fort here was built by the King and every day he would come out here and look towards the Bloodmana Wasp hive, he misses the 2nd Queen every day of his life....] -Nightmaster Duke

[Hmmm....Isn't this a dangerous place for someone to place a city?] -Sol

Sol looked through the window like s.p.a.ces in the fort and could see the path leading to the hive and thought it was too close to the city. Sure it was a good distance away but Sol thought it was much too close and was completely stupefied.